Wholly unaffordable

Last week, Whole Foods Market announced plans to open a 40,000 square foot store at 20th and L streets in Midtown.

On the one hand, awesome: A robust Midtown should be able to support all types of businesses. Look at any thriving and on-the-rise neighborhood in cities such as Oakland, Portland, Austin or Nashville, and you'll find a mix of big stores and indie retailers.

On the other hand, ugh: Whole Foods is the last thing Midtown needs. It's not so much that Whole Foods will siphon customers away from local options, such as the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op or the Midtown Farmers Market, it's that it won't offer the average resident affordable groceries.

Not to be a hypocrite, of course. I get Whole Foods' allure—the grocer offers a dizzyingly broad selection of organic, vegan and ethically sourced options. Each year during the holidays I venture there because it's the only nearby place that stocks a particular brand of vegan roast my family likes. And each year I walk out with a bagful of organic, vegan and ethically sourced options that typically cost upward of $50. In fact, it's become something of a joke in my house: I'm only “allowed” to set food inside of a Whole Foods once a year.

And that's a problem. (Google “Whole Foods” with “anti-labor union” or “local farmers markets” for other quandaries.) Whole Foods is ridiculously, almost offensively overpriced. And in Midtown, an area already negatively impacted by the effects of gentrification—namely, rising rents—that's bad news.

Most of those who make up the heart of Midtown—creatives, students, young professionals, the elderly—won't be able to afford to shop there regularly, if at all. And what's the point of a neighborhood grocer if it outprices the community it's supposed to serve?